The first significant literary exchange between New
Zealand and China continues in 2014 with an opportunity for a New Zealand
writer to hold a two-month residency in Shanghai. A writer from Shanghai will
hold a similar fellowship at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Auckland in
2015.
The exchange follows the inaugural Rewi Alley
Fellowship in May 2013, when Huo Yan, a 25-year-old writer from Beijing, took
up a two-month residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre with funding through
the NZ China Friendship Society.
The New Zealand writer selected to go to Shanghai
will join an established international programme run by the Shanghai Writers’
Association, the city’s most prestigious literary organisation. Writers have
free accommodation in their own inner-city apartment, a small stipend towards living
costs and air travel to Shanghai paid. They’re invited to take part in
discussions and literary events, but are able to work on a project of their
choice. The programme takes place in September and October each year with up to
seven writers from all over the world. This is the first time a New Zealand
writer will take part.
The Shanghai writer selected for the New Zealand
fellowship in September 2015 will have free accommodation at the Michael King
Writers’ Centre, air travel and a stipend.
New
Zealand writers will be able to apply for the Shanghai residency from later
this month and applications are expected to close at the end of February.
Details will be available through the Michael King Writers’ Centre.
The chair of the Michael King Writers’ Centre, Catriona
Ferguson, said the exchange was a very exciting development.
“There are few opportunities for New Zealand writers
to hold residencies in other countries. The main ones are in France, Berlin and
the United States. This will be the first opportunity for a supported
fellowship in China.
“International literary exchanges and linkages
provide valuable opportunities for writers not only to have time and space to
work, but to be exposed to new ideas, experiences and different approaches to
writing. They also contribute to New Zealand’s international standing, at a
time when the arts and creative industries are becoming a very important part
of our economy. The huge local and international sales of Man Booker
prize-winner Eleanor Catton’s novel The
Luminaries provide one example of this, and there are flow-on benefits in
tourism and other business areas.”
George Andrews, Vice President NZ China Friendship
Society, said the fellowship continued the society’s long tradition of
fostering cultural links with China.
“Rewi
Alley would be tickled pink that the writing fellowship we established in his
name has led to this exchange with Shanghai, where he first arrived in China in
1927.”
The project is a partnership between the New
Zealand China Friendship Society, the Michael King Writers’ Centre, the
Shanghai Writers’ Association and the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship
with Foreign Countries. The Shanghai Writers’ Association will fund the 2014
residency, while the NZ China Friendship Society will fund 2015 residency via
their Simon Deng Li Fund, established in 2012 to encourage cultural links
between New Zealand and China.
While she was in New Zealand in 2013, Huo Yan wrote
two short works. One, a novella called John
Li has been published in a prominent Chinese literary journal, Mountain Flowers.
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